My son is almost 5 months old. He LOVES music, so I want to make sure I expose him to as much as possible. I would love for him to be able to read music (something I always struggled with). Someday I would also like him to play piano and violin. I have tried to expose him to a wide variety of music, plus my singing, which hardly qualifies as music. He also has jingle bells, a tambourine, a mini rain stick, and maracas. We dance all the time, also. My piano is currently in storage, but I am hoping to get it out in a couple months after we move.
I am wondering where I should go now. Should I make flash cards of the musical notes? If I do, should I just say what note it is? If I do, how do I handle sharps and flats or the different kinds of notes (whole, quarter, rests, etc)? Would it be better to wait for the piano and play the note as I show him the card? Should I get a xylophone? Should I just wait until he is older to do too much more than what I am doing?
Play lots of music for him and listen to instruments. Get lots of instrumentals on CD and enjoy them together, you might want to do bits of composers/artists. Just continue to enjoy music together, he is only 5months. He probably wont be able to play anything until 5.5 - 6 months minimum .
Personally, I would PM or talk to aangeles, her daughter Ella (2 and a halfish, I think) is wonderfully charming and has been learning to play Piano from Soft Mozart.
Don’t wait for your piano there is no harm in starting to teach note recognition purely through flash cards.
Doman teaches the note quantities first - whole notes etc and the pitch later.
When it comes to sharps and flats you just treat them as you always would "this is C# " etc.
As much as you think your singing isn’t noteworthy it is important to keep it up.
Xylophones are great for teaching perfect pitch (at least good quality ones are). If you are going to use your piano - when you have it tuned be sure that it is tuned to concert pitch as often when a piano has remained untuned for a while they end up having to tune it to itself rather than to concert pitch in which case you would be teaching the incorrect notes.
Rhythm games on bongos is great at this age and if he is sitting he will be able to partake. We began by copying the rhythms he made and making a game out of it - eventually he would start to copy our rhythms as well.
Follow your child’s lead in how much you do - children are very aware of what they want/are ready to learn watch his cues he will tell you if it’s too much.
Have you tried Trebellina? My grandson liked to wath it and i thin it helps a lot to get a good pitch and to introduce the conceptos of notes, position on the pentagram, their value etc.
You also have discounts with points. I considered it a good investment and am plannig to watch it again with my newborn grandaughter.
Thank you so much for all the wonderful advice! I’m glad to know that I can teach him to read the notes first and add the sound later. My piano should be ok, because it is an electric piano. I will have to see if I can find anything on Doman’s methods of teaching music.
Also, thank you for the Trebelinna suggestion, I had never heard of it.
All excellent suggestions so far! Sing to him and with him. Play rhythms when you say nursery rhymes. Dance! Then, if he shows interest and apptitude, start him on an instrument-based curriculum.
KinderBach can be used with children as young as two because it is totally paced by the individual child.
That music playgroup is amazing! I would love a Suzuki or Pre Suzuki classes! I’ve looked an the only thing I can find around here is story time at the library, where they sometimes sing songs. While still fun, not quite what I was looking for. When he gets older I will look for private teachers that work with young kids. All the music schools around here start at around 6 at the earliest.
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